Huh?

[AbbyK9]

I came across this article this morning and there are a couple of things that made me go "huh?" so I was wondering if I could get some input?

Article -
THPD's newest K-9 trained to find bombs News News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Things that made me go "huh?"

Adamson explained the Army is moving toward female, single-specialty dogs, and away from the male, dual-purpose group. Female dogs will work with a number of different handlers, whereas “alpha males” such as Ben will only bond to work with one human.

and

A taut 81-pounds, no fat to speak of, the power of his pull was evident. Haller explained that his Army handler had been a smaller-framed man and encountered some trouble managing him day-in, day-out. Adamson’s 220-pound frame seemed to handle the dog more easily, although he was quick to admit that tangling with Ben is just a bad idea.

Seems to me that bonding depends more on the individual dog than the gender of the dog and that good obedience doesn't really have much to do with the size of the handler (or the dog).

[selzer]

I agree, one should not have to over-power a dog to get it to do what they want. And if anything, I would think females would be more likely to bond strongly with one person only.

[carmspack]

I am just glad to see females getting serious consideration for employment.
In some working jobs females are preferred because they don't mark--
I have heard that females are "less into animal" won't be distracted by the scent of other males that have been marking .
Good . Glad to see it.
Carmen

[selzer]

Uhm, Someone needs to tell Heidi that females do not mark! She is currently in heat, and so is Babs, and she is marking over everywhere Babs has been. I swear she is worse than ANY of the males I have ever had!

[carmspack]

That's a female in season leaving calling cards.

[AbbyK9]

In some working jobs females are preferred because they don't mark--

Someone should let Ronja know that females don't mark, because she has to pee everywhere another dog has peed. (Especially her buddy Max - he pees, she will pee on top of it.) She's fixed, btw.

[carmspack]

If you are working in a hotel, convention centre, theatre there is little chance that there would have been a whole lot of peeing going on in there to over mark. There isn't a lot of animal to get in to.
A male might want to be the first. Kilroy was here . I am just going with the reasons given "why females only" for a specific scent detection application I am dealing with.
As I said , really glad to get job opportunities for females with strong working drives.
Carmen
Carmspack Working German Shepherd Dogs

[ladylaw203]

Well, I wont EVEN get into some crazy things the Army does.........

I have worked females for years as well as males. I know other cops that do as well. Most cops prefer a male but many once they work a female prefer them. My retired dutchie bomb dog is female. KNPV PH1 and a bad heifer. I do have females that mark but not anything like the males. Folks have the mistaken impression that females cannot be as tough as a male. That is until an unpleasant encounter with one... that is..........

[selzer]

The officer in Ashtabula with the retired black male, is now working a spayed female as his partner.

[warpwr]

I don't think these dogs are trained to 'heel' or whatever during a search or going after a suspect. That explains the strong pull and the need to be able to match that strength so it's not really about obedience.